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Who is Joe Judge? 4 things to know about him during Mississippi State coaching search

According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Mississippi State has spoken to former Auburn coach Gene Chizik and Army coach Jeff Monken. Rittenberg said the top choices, however, are Joe Judge and Todd Grantham.

Many Mississippi State fans know of Grantham; he was the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator under Dan Mullen in 2017. He's had the same job under Mullen at Florida in each of the last two seasons.

Joe Judge of the New England Patriots

But who is Judge? Here are four things to know about him.

1. Joe Judge is a New England Patriot

Judge has spent the last eight seasons as an assistant for Bill Belichick in New England.

He has been the special teams coordinator since 2015. He was a special teams assistant for the Patriots the three prior seasons.

Along with his special teams duties, Judge was also the team's wide receivers coach this past season. He was the only assistant in the league to hold those two positions concurrently.

The Patriots blocked four punts this season, which led the league.

2. Joe Judge played at Mississippi State

Judge, 38, is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but he played his college ball at Mississippi State.

Judge arrived at Mississippi State as a backup quarterback but saw most of his playing time on special teams and as a holder. He earned three letters from 2000-04.

Instead of looking elsewhere to start his coaching career, Judge stayed in Starkville as a graduate assistant from 2005-2007.

Judge's wife also attended Mississippi State. She was an All-SEC player on the soccer team.

3. Joe Judge has another SEC connection

After his time as a graduate assistant, Judge was briefly the kindergarten physical elementary teacher at West Point Elementary School before getting back into the coaching game.

He spent one season as the linebackers coach at Birmingham Southern in 2008. Then he went back to the SEC.

From 2009-11, Judge was a special teams assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama. The Crimson Tide won the national title in 2009 and 2011.

Belichick said Judge would be a good fit as a head coach in the NFL if he landed the Giants job.

"Joe has done a great job of organizing that as well as taking on some other things with the offense, in particular receivers, so he’s done a great job. He’s an excellent coach," said Belichick, per NJ.com.